Jade Jones /

Date of Birth

Sport

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Biography

After taking up taekwondo at the age of six, at the suggestion
of her grandfather, Jade enjoyed a prolific rise through the ranks
to become the UK's number one ranked junior of any division, male
or female.

Fighting in the -55kg division, the twice consecutive British
junior champion, had an impressive 2010 by clinching Britain's
first ever Youth Olympic Games gold medal in Singapore. That same
year she won gold at the Paris and Dutch Opens before fighting her
way to silver at the World Junior Championships in Mexico. A smooth
transition into the senior fighting ranks resulted in a bronze
medal at the European championships.

Now firmly established in GB Taekwondo's senior elite squad,
fighting in the -57kg Olympic weight division, Jade's medal haul
continued on a grand scale in 2011. Her highlight was winning
silver at the World Championships in South Korea - missing out on
gold by the narrowest of margins, losing in a sudden death decider
against her Chinese opponent. She also picked up gold (-62kg) and
bronze (-57kg) at the US Open, German Open silver, bronze at the
Chuncheon Open, British Open gold and French Open
bronze.

In 2012, Jade picked up German Open silver and
a European Championship bronze before clinching gold at the
London 2012 Olympic Games. At 19, she beat China's twice world
champion Yuzhuo Hou at the ExCel Arena to seal her victory and
become Team GB's youngest ever Olympic medallist and Team GB's
first ever taekwondo gold!

Jade has picked up countless awards including BBC Wales Young
Sports Personality of the Year and the Jaguar Academy of Sport
Special Recognition and Star of the Future Awards.

She trains at the GB Taekwondo Academy in
Manchester, on the World Class Performance
Programme, under the watchful eye of Team GB Performance Director,
Gary Hall.